Today's Reading June 20
Old Testament reading - Nehemiah, chapters 12 and 13.
This concludes the book of Nehemiah. It deals further with the organization and purification of the city and the the people and their practices. And it shows, yet again, the trend towards going wrong by an unseemly desire to be like everybody else. God practices discrimination, and a Good Thing Too.
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New Testament passage - Acts, chapter 4, verses 23 through 37. As we've been saying, this is the early development of the Church as we understand it today, the mission, the practices, the attitudes. Not that we hold to it well, but it's an example for us. For example,
29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,Does that not sound like something you would like to be part of? Me too, and we are, I believe, called to exactly that.
30 By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.
31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.
33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.
Unfortunately, a good number of Christians are unwilling to give themselves over to God in that manner. I God moved like that again, shaking the ground, I think a bunch of Christians would run for the hills in terror. I see God move in my life and the lives of those around me...but not physically shaking the ground...that would be something else.
ReplyDeleteWell first of all, the Lord does move today. I've seen it, and probably most of us have, in changed lives. The lives that I have seen changed are, to me, as much a miracle as the feeding of the 5000 - nobody would have expected so-and-so to turn it over the the Lord. So that's one.
ReplyDeleteSecond, of course a mighty manifestation of the Lord's presence is an awesome event. I don't think it is possible to encounter the God of the Universe and not be affected. If you recall, the first thing that angels have said throughout Scripture when meeting up with a human is ''be not afraid''. And those are angels. The Lord himself, present in whatever way, is going to be more awe-inspiring than that, and rightly so. He doesn't NEED to shake the ground to get our attention, but he could. And earthquakes and other 'natural disasters' are often a means of drawing people to Him.
But finally, you are quite correct. A lot of us - and honesty compels me to include myself - are not and have never really been totally given over to God in that matter. Perhaps, just perhaps, if we all were, then the presence of God might be more visible in our world, and in ourselves. Too many of us wear Christian-logo hats and T-shirts, and talk and act like the Devil of Hell. That's our fault, not God's.
In the meantime, it's good to recall that the Apostles didn't preach the Word throughout the world because they were invited to do so - they generally did so against strong opposition. Should we expect different? And they had good results, long term.